The smell of wine, oh how much more delicate, cheerful, gratifying, celestial and delicious it is than that of oil.
François Rabelais (1495-1553)

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Wine and Cheese Pairing

I love cheese. I could have a simple meal made of good cheese, fresh bread, and wine, and be in heaven. So I was enthusiastic when our friend Arnaud announced that the theme of his November wine club meeting was Wine and Cheese Pairing.

For the event, Arnaud chose seven types of cheese from five different countries and carefully paired them with a wine of the same nationality (almost). Here is what he selected for us:

• Brie and SavennièresBrie is a soft-ripened, cow's milk cheese from Brie, a region of France south-east of Paris. With a mild, creamy taste and an unctuous texture, it is a cheese that requires an aromatic wine with some acidity. We tasted the 2002 Savennières Cuvée des Genêts Domaine Laureau. It is a dry white wine from the Loire Valley made from the Chenin Blanc grape. The wine was delicious with the Brie. It had a bright golden with a lively, mineral nose. On the palate, it was crisp with aromas of pear and honey.

• Humboldt goat cheese and Napa Valley Sauvignon BlancMade in Humboldt county in Northern California, this chalk white Artisan cheese has a firm and dense texture and a delicate taste that offers a good balance between saltiness and acidity. A crisp Sauvignon Blanc is a classic pairing with goat cheese and in order to stay in California, Arnaud chose a Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley. The 2004 Honig Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley had a pale straw color and an attractive citrus and floral nose. On the palate, it was crisp with gooseberry flavors. I really liked this goat cheese but I found the wine too fruity for the cheese.

• Manchego and Dry AmontilladoManchego is a semi-firm cheese from Spain, made from whole milk of the Manchego sheep raised in the high plateau of La Mancha. Traditionally, Manchego is molded with woven esparto grass — a plant with hard, stiff, reed-like blades — strips, which creates a zigzag pattern along the side of the cheese. A red wine like a Rioja or a dry Sherry are usually a good match for the sweet and nutty flavors of the cheese. Arnaud selected a Dry Amontillado Los Arcos from Emilio Lustau. Amontillado is a type of Sherry that is slowly oxidized while aged in porous oak casks. Being slowly exposed to oxygen, the wine gains a darker color and unusual distinctive flavors. From the color — deep amber — and the nose — rich and luscious — it seemed that the wine was sweet. But on the palate, it was surprisingly bone-dry with strong nutty aromas and a long, complex finish. For me, this was the most unusual and complex wine of the evening, although many guests did not like it.

• Parmesan and Brunello di MontalcinoNamed after the town of Parma in Northern Italy, Parmesan is a hard cheese made from cow's skimmed milk. It has a granular structure and a fruity and nutty flavor. Like most hard cheeses, Parmesan goes well with red wines. To go with Parmesan, Arnaud selected a Brunello di Montalcino from Tuscany. The 2000 Brunello di Montalcino Poggiarellino is 100% Sangiovese Grosso, a local clone of the Sangiovese grape. The wine had a deep garnet color and a generous nose of ripe fruits. On the palate, it was full-bodied and rich with a peppery aftertaste. Both the wine and the cheese were very tasty.

• Munster and GewürztraminerMunster is a strong, pungent cheese, native to Alsace, and made of cow’s milk. It has a sticky, orange, washed skin while the interior is semi-soft, creamy and mellow flavored. In Alsace, it is typically served with spices like caraway or cumin seeds. A classic pairing is Munster and beer but aromatic white wines like Gewürztraminer work as well. The Gewürztraminer grape has strong aromas — Gewürz means spicy in German — that can stand up to the cheese. We tasted the 2001 Jean-Philippe Francois Becker Gewürztraminer Grand Cru Froehn. It had a wonderfully fragrant nose of lychee fruit. On the palate, it was full-bodied and off-dry with a long finish. The wine was a perfect accompaniment for the Munster sprinkled with cumin seeds.

• Stilton and PortKnown as the king of English cheeses, Stilton is a cow-milk cheese with moldy blue-green veins, a rich and mellow flavor and a piquant aftertaste, although it is milder than other blue cheese like Roquefort or Gorgonzola. It is only produced in the three counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. Sweet wines are known to offer a great counterpoint to the pungent and salty flavors of a blue cheese, and in England, Port is the classic drink to accompany Stilton. With the cheese, we tasted a Tawny Port, which is a wood-aged Port that acquired a lighter tawny color, hence the name, and a more gentle flavor over the years. The Warre's Otima 10 Years Tawny Port was still very young, fruity and lively with rich raisiny flavors on the palate, and a long sweet finish.

• Roquefort and SauternesEnjoyed since Roman times, Roquefort is one of the oldest cheeses in the world. It is made from sheep's milk that is exposed to a mold called Penicillium roqueforti. It is then ripened for at least 3 months in limestone caverns near the village of Roquefort in southwestern France. Ripe Roquefort is creamy, thick and crumbly on the inside, with a rich texture and pungent, piquant, salty flavors. Like Stilton, Roquefort pairs well with sweet wines and Sauternes is a classic match. Arnaud selected the excellent 1998 Château Raymond-Lafon. Château Raymond-Lafon is a property that borders Château Yquem. The wine had a bright golden color, a nose of orange liqueur, a rich palate with candied fruit flavors, and a complex finish.

We usually associate cheese with dry red wines. But looking back at the great wine/cheese combinations that we had that evening, it is interesting to notice that six wines out of seven were white and four were sweet and/or fortified.

We had a wonderful time. The cheeses came from Whole Foods Market and were fresh and tasty. The wines, bought at K&L Wine Merchants, were excellent. And if I had to assign some awards, I would choose:• 1st place in the cheese category: Humboldt goat cheese• 1st place in the wine category: Dry Amontillado Los Arcos Emilio Lustau• 1st place in the wine/cheese pairing category: Munster and 2001 Jean-Philippe Francois Becker Gewürztraminer Grand Cru Froehn (with the cumin seeds of course!)

Thanks for this great Wine and Cheese Pairing guide! I wanted to let you know that I've linked to this post from my party planning advice site to help a reader plan her grandmother's 90th birthday party. Feel free to check us out for free online invitations, party planning advice and more. Thanks again!Penelope

Burgundy Wine lies at the very heart of France, and is one of the world’s finest wine producing regions. Located two hours to the southeast of Paris, the wine area starts in Chablis in the north of the region and then it follows the autoroute A6 southerly to Lyon.

The Burgundy soil is mainly based on oolitic limestone, upon which both the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes flourish. The red wines, made with the Pinot Noir, are more difficult to grow because these grapes are more sensitive to disease or to being badly handled. Towards the south of the region, from around Macon, the soil changes to a reddish granite schist and sand of the Beaujolais. Here, the Gamay grape flourishes, making excellent red wines, many of which are drunk while they are young.

If you have not been to Burgundy, try it. It is a great part of France to visit for a holiday. Alternatively, stay at home and simply drink and enjoy the wine. You can more information for the Burgundy Wine in: http://www.burgundywinevarieties.com/

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About Me

I don't remember exactly when I really started enjoying wine, maybe during one of my college years that I spent in Bordeaux. I didn't know much about wine at that time and I remember buying wines based on the label design rather than on the name of the château... About me